


The Favorite

by Auggusst



Series: Alternate Universes [9]
Category: Avengers Assemble (Cartoon), Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers Assemble - Freeform, Cute, Fluff, Found Family, Funny, Happy, M/M, Overprotective, Protective Steve Rogers, Protective Tony Stark, Team as Family, sam wilson is the favorite child, steve and tony are mom and dad vibes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-06
Updated: 2020-06-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:27:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24577561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Auggusst/pseuds/Auggusst
Summary: Cap and Iron Man have, unbeknownst to them really, kind of adopted Sam Wilson. He is definitely the favorite of the bunch.[Fic written for @goshmrbigbrain on Twitter.]
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Series: Alternate Universes [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1703173
Comments: 14
Kudos: 221





	The Favorite

**Author's Note:**

> Wowee, I finally got to write for AA! This is probably my only fic without a single swear word skdjgbskjgbs  
> This was super cute and fun to write! Thank you for asking for it <3

Sam Wilson had two sets of parents. The second set also doubled as his house mates and teammates, so maybe some would have found that kind of weird, but Sam mostly found it a cross between amazing and annoying.

Captain America and Iron Man had a tendency to mother him. It made sense, he supposed, because he was the youngest of the bunch, but he was also highly intelligent and capable. Sam could defend himself well, had saved the team on more than one occasion, so he really didn’t _need_ mothering so to speak, except from his actual mother, who visited the Tower once a month with a box of baked goods, but it seemed to happen anyway.

Maybe Tony didn’t notice he was doing it. He’d taken to Sam really quickly when they met. Sam’s inventor streak and problem solving abilities made him an excellent lab partner, and he wasn’t afraid to test inventions either, which delighted Tony to no end in the few months Sam interned at Stark Industries. Sam got privileges that other interns never got, and even got to spend time with Tony outside of the lab. Sam didn’t realize he was getting special attention, and Tony never made a comment about it, but when asking others, it was clear. Iron Man had a soft spot for him.

That in itself was amazing enough, but then the team Sam grew up hearing stories about, watching every scrap of footage available on the internet, reunited, with _him_ as the newest member, and it became very apparent in a short amount of time, that _Captain America_ had a soft spot for Sam too.

It made sense, he supposed. Wherever Tony went, Steve went, and vice versa. They had a synergy unlike any two Sam had ever met, even if they disagreed at times. It wasn’t a surprise to hear that they shared feelings back in the ‘old days,’ and those feelings only blossomed into something concrete and extremely candid nowadays. Within two months of living in the Tower, Tony and Steve were dating, and Sam had acquired his second set of parents.

They doted on him. Constantly.

“Here, Sam, check out the upgrades I made to your wings!”

“Hey Sam, why don’t I take you out to lunch at this old diner I used to go to? It’s still standing, I hear.”

“Sam gets to pick the movie tonight. He did a great job on that last mission.”

“Sam gets to go on this trip because he doesn’t complain as much as you, Clint.”

After a few months of it, it became clear to everyone, except Steve and Tony somehow, that they were being total parents to Sam Wilson. Clint regularly griped about it, seemed a little jealous in some cases of the special treatment, and made fun of Sam endlessly for it. Thor wasn’t much help in quelling their parent-like tendencies. He only seemed to spur them on, often agreed with their compliments towards Sam or the little things they said or did in his favor. Natasha thought it was amusing, but, as always, stayed neutral, even when Sam requested she save him from their smothering, and Hulk? Well, Hulk didn’t see a problem with it, especially on days when Steve decided to bake, and Sam ended up with more desserts than he could eat, and he gave them to his big green friend.

On the whole, Sam didn’t have a problem with it either. It was nice, getting that kind of attention, being made to feel welcome and important. His childhood heroes thought favorably of him. Who wouldn’t want that? Sometimes it just got a little overwhelming. The worst part was they didn’t even realize they were doing it to him. For being a literal genius and a super soldier, Cap and Iron Man were kind of dense sometimes.

Sam didn’t have time to think about it now. He was tumbling out of the air currently, his wings literally clipped by some AIM Agents. They had gotten some upgrades lately, and caught him off guard while he was swooping around to cover Widow’s flank. A short fall he wouldn’t have minded, but he was a good 30ft in the air when they got him.

In short, he wasn’t in a good spot right now.

“Uh—G-guys?!” he called out on the comm, eyes flitting anxiously left and right as he tried to spot his teammates, or a way out of the situation. It was hard to see straight though, and his center of gravity kept shifting, and the free fall made his stomach drop unpleasantly.

“Sam! Hold on, I’ve got you!” he heard Tony call out from somewhere.

The ground was closing in fast though, and though Sam had fallen plenty of times before, he couldn’t help but feel afraid now, let out a shout as he was twisted around in the air. Thankfully, the roar of Iron Man’s flight stabilizers filled his ears, louder than the rushing wind, and a hand closed around his own, stopping Sam’s plummet in its tracks, a mere 6ft before the ground. Sam thought his heart had stopped.

“Oh man,” he sighed in relief, looking up at the neutral face-plate of Tony’s suit. “Thanks.”

“I told you I had you,” Tony replied, and gracefully lowered them to the ground, a decent distance away from the firefight. Tony didn’t leave him to his own devices though. Instead, he set both gauntlet-covered hands on Sam’s shoulders, pulled back his face plate.

“Are you okay?” he asked, his eyes kind of wide, brows tugged down. He turned Sam this way and that, checking for injuries, inspecting the damage to his wings.

An explosion went off somewhere behind them as the battle continued, but Tony, normally quite focused on the end goal, ignored it entirely. In favor of fretting over Sam.

“Uh…I’m fine,” Sam insisted, flinching a little as Tony pulled his arm to the side to get a proper look at his power pack. “Shouldn’t you be, I don’t know, getting back to the fight?”

“Thor’s got it,” Tony replied without missing a beat, his attention still on Sam. “One well placed lightning strike to their generator over there and those little banana-colored minions will split.”

“Yeah but—“

It was true enough, apparently, because there was a thundering _boom_ and the air sizzled with electricity, and in place of the portable power matrix the AIM agents had arrived with to power their weapons across the field, there was a big, smoking crater and a whole lot of scrap metal.

As Tony anticipated, those AIM agents who were still conscious, turned tail, and ran.

Tony hadn’t even turned to look though. “You sure you’re feeling alright? Not dizzy or anything? There’s been a lot of close calls, but this time it was _really_ close.”

“I’m fine, r-really!” Sam replied, holding his hands up. “Come on, I—“

“Sam!” Cap called out from across the way, making his way over. Clint and Nat were coming up the rear while Thor and Hulk finished scaring the remaining AIM agents straight.

By the look on Cap’s face, eerily similar to Tony’s, Sam was about to be fawned over _again_. He could feel mortification set in as he got a look at Clint’s smug expression.

“What happened?” Steve asked, pulling his cowl off. He looked between Tony and Sam.

“His wings were damaged,” Tony elaborated. “I caught him just in time.”

“What were you _doing_?” Steve asked Sam, eyes wide and concerned. His voice took on a fatherly tone that they were all quite familiar with by now.

Sam, oddly enough, felt more in danger now than when he was falling. “N-nothing! I was doing what I always do! Natasha needed help and I was circling around to back her up and—“

“You’ve _got_ to be more careful,” Steve interjected. “How many times do I say to watch your six?”

“At _least_ twice a training session,” Tony answered for him, a hand on his hip. “I’m the one who gets away with not listening to Cap. You’re _supposed_ to listen.”

“Oh my—Guys? A little help here?” Sam asked, looking beyond their shoulders at the rest of his teammates.

“Now, come on Sam, you know better than not to listen to mom and dad!” Clint said with a grin, crossing his arms. “Whatever would they do if their baby bird fell out of the nest?”

“What are you talking about?” Tony replied, raising a brow.

“You, and Steve,” Clint replied, gesturing between the two of them. “Sam’s totally fine, and here you two are fretting over him like he’s a kindergartener. You’re mom-and-dad-ing him. You do it _all the time._ ”

“That’s silly,” Steve replied, brushing a hand through his hair. “We’re just concerned about him. We’re concerned about all of you.”

“Show of hands if you’ve ever gotten a fraction of the smothering attention Sam gets when you’ve been hurt,” Clint said. “You, Nat? Thor? Hulk?”

“A fraction is _all_ I get,” Natasha replied. “Not that I need it really, but Clint’s right.”

“I’ve never _needed_ smothering,” Thor added. “But it’s true, the Captain and Iron Man take extra care with our Falcon.”

“Always treating Sam like a baby,” Hulk agreed, grinning.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Tony replied. “I don’t—w-we don’t _smother_ him. He’s just the youngest of us, has the least _experience_ , and we want to make sure he’s safe.”

“Yeah, and you _also_ treat him to special outings, extra gifts and a whole lot of attention that the rest of us don’t get,” Clint countered, cleaning dust off of his glasses.

“It’s true,” Natasha added.

Tony opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it again. He glanced at Steve, who was frowning a little, his cheeks kind of red.

Had they really been giving Sam extra attention? Did they baby him? Tony thought back over the last few months, of situations similar to this one. He thought of all the times he’d done something for Sam, or invited him to do something without the others. He thought of the time he, Sam and Steve went out to dinner, just the three of them.

Oh. So _maybe_ they _were_ mom-and-dad-ing him.

Steve must have come to the same conclusion.

“Sam, I’m sorry if we’ve been a bit…overprotective, or overbearing,” he said, setting a hand on the Falcon’s shoulder. “I hope it doesn’t bother you.”

“We just care about you, Sam,” Tony added. “Despite Clint’s complaining, we care about _all_ of you.”

“That’s the thing about being a leader, I guess,” Steve said, looking around at them all. “Your team really does become your family, and you can’t help but want to protect them.”

“Even if they’re supremely capable super heroes,” Tony said, smiling at Steve.

“Especially if they’re supremely capable super heroes,” Steve replied, and he reached out, brushed his fingers against Tony’s. The brunet didn’t need to feel his touch through the suit for his eyes to go warm and soft as he regarded his boyfriend.

“It’s okay,” Sam replied. “I know you guys mean well. I really don’t mind. Just…lay off a little?” he suggested.

“Yeah,” Clint agreed. “The rest of us want some attention too. When’s the last time I got a new set of arrows?”

“Only good kids get new arrows,” Tony joked. “Have you been good Clint?”

“Aw, but—“

“No arguing,” Steve interjected. If the others were so insistent on the mom-and-dad act, he didn’t mind playing into it a little. “Listen to your parents.”

Clint frowned, and Natasha smiled. “You brought this one on yourself, Barton,” she said, putting a hand on his shoulder. She and the others walked past him, headed back to the jet. “Can I get a new pair of heels?”

“Sure,” Tony said with a shrug, smirking.

“Aw _come on!_ ” Clint sighed, mouth agape, and the team broke out into laughter.

Sam really, really loved his second family.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope everyone enjoyed! Please leave your thoughts in the comments 🥺
> 
> Also please tell me you caught the banana split joke because I laughed at my own joke for like 4 minutes as only a Tony kin can


End file.
